Commentary: Danica trumpets full-time Cup arrival by winning 500 pole

Danica Patrick captures pole position for next Sunday's Daytona 500 and makes history along the way.

KEN WILLISSPORTS COLUMNIST

DAYTONA BEACH — It wasn't as if Danica Patrick needed a brass band to trumpet her arrival as a full-time racer in NASCAR's marquee league.

But just in case a few pockets of the Pacific Northwest or Canadian Rockies were still in the dark, she made very quick work of a lap around the racetrack Sunday. Danica's average speed of 196.434 mph gave her the pole position for the sport's biggest race and further cemented her as “The Story” in the bigger-than-ever buildup to next Sunday's Daytona 500.

In doing so, she became the first woman to win a pole for a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, but in reminding everyone of the biggest lesson from her childhood, she said, “I was brought up to be the fastest driver, not the fastest girl.”

Sunday she was both. And Jeff Gordon, a highly decorated veteran racer who never fails to take a big-picture view, seemed almost relieved that he was roughly four-hundredths of a second slower than Danica and settled for the outside slot of the front row for next Sunday.

“It's huge. It's big,” Gordon said. “I've always been a big believer in what's good for the sport is good for all of us.”

Which, by the way, is basically what Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood III had in mind late Sunday when he said, “This week, everyone is going to talk about Danica and talk about the Daytona 500, and I will do my best to proliferate that message as well.”

As for history a little closer to home, there are the two men in charge of preparing the cars that will make up the Daytona 500's front row. Overseeing Danica's No. 10 Chevrolet is crew chief Tony Gibson (Spruce Creek High, class of 1982). The crew chief for Gordon's No. 24 Chevy is Alan Gustafson (Seabreeze High, class of 1993).

In what kind of historic company does that put Gibson and Gustafson? The names Smokey Yunick and Ray Fox ring a loud bell for followers of auto racing. Both were Northerners who transplanted to Daytona Beach as young men, opened garages and, along the way, became legendary builders of race cars. In 1962, they put cars on the 500's front row – Yunick with driver Fireball Roberts, Fox with driver David Pearson.

Said Gibson when told of the historic comparison: “Wow, that's big right there.”

And Gustafson: “Really cool. When you grow up in the shadow of this place, that's special.”

Danica set the stage for her pole run during Saturday's practice sessions, when she turned in the fastest speed of all 45 cars in town for the Daytona 500. Everyone assumed she'd be fast Sunday. When she was the eighth driver off the grid and posted an average speed of 196.434 mph, pole day turned into a waiting game.

Teammate Ryan Newman came relatively close, as did Trevor Bayne, and Gordon came within a blink. But the spotlight stayed with Danica, and this time, it was after a competition and not before. The only argument left to settle was where to attach the credit.

At Daytona, qualifying is usually settled in the weeks and months prior to arriving in town – largely back in the suburbs of Charlotte, N.C., where engineers and mechanics black-light every inch of detail, looking for every ounce of horsepower. The driver's main duty on pole day is to plant the right foot and keep the steering wheel calm.

“I appreciate the recognition, but it really falls 90 percent on Tony and his guys, everybody that gives me the car to go out there and be fast – and maybe 10 percent on me,” Danica said. “All I have to do is think about going out there, being smooth . . .”

Gibson, perfectly playing the role of supporting actor, naturally disagreed.

“It's more than 10 percent,” he said of Danica's contribution. “You can put a good product out there, but if you don't have the person to drive it . . . it can really damage your day. We just gave her a product that was really good, and she took it the rest of the way. It's more than 10 percent, I promise you. It's 50-50.”

Whatever the math, the historic aspect isn't debatable. In a male-dominated world, Danica Patrick sticks out. Her physical attractions have combined with her efforts in high-profile forms of racing to provide a high-octane marketing influence in a sport where marketing abilities roll hand-in-hand with on-track performance.

She downplays it in some ways, but doesn't fight the larger facts.

“I've had the experience with mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, listening to them say the reason why they're here as a family is because of me out there,” she said Sunday. “Whether it brings the girls out, the guys out, whatever it is, I don't care. That's nice to hear.

“It's also nice to hear families talk about the fact that a little girl might say, ‘But Mommy, Daddy, that's a girl out there.' Then they can have the conversation . . . you can do anything you want and being different doesn't by any means not allow you to follow your dreams. I love to think that conversation happens in households because of something I'm doing.”

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